Recording sessions with Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise

Burt Reynolds provided an approved photo for publicity purposes. Don added a rough drawing of Charlie, which we had cleaned up and painted as a cel overlay and used the image shown here for one of the publicity shots to be used in newspapers and magazine promotions. (1989)

Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise & Don Bluth

In February of 1988, we were able to get Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise together in a Los Angeles recording studio to rehearse and record Burt and Dom’s voices for All Dogs Go To Heaven.

Always the comedian, Dom could be a real generator of humor, and when he and Burt got together on microphones we could never anticipate how they would replace new, ad-libbed lines for the dialogues during the recording sessions, many of which were left in the film. Something we didn’t leave in was when we first started to record dialogue. Burt showed up with a “dog voice” – he had created. Don stepped away from Burt and came into the control booth where the recording engineer worked with Gary and Dom DeLuise. As Don came in, Dom stood up, “I heard what Burt said. I think I can fix this. Let me come out and help direct Burt and no matter what, do not stop recording. I can convince him to give up his dog voice and be himself.” So out came Dom with Don, and Burt began reading his lines with his dog voice. Dom let him read for a few moments then stopped him. Dom says “I don’t think this put-on voice is what they hired you for”. Burt thought his dog voice was cute and entertaining. Dom said, “Really?!” Burt became adamant. That’s when Dom just said, “Come one Burt, don’t be an a_ _ hole!” And, Burt gave in. That’s one way to fix it. Something Don wasn’t prepared to say. Those two guys were great fun to work with – loads of laughs.

2 Responses

This is a really charming behind the scenes treat, and the painted Charlie cell is lovely. (this is an understatement but I don’t want to get sappy) The way Bert’s dog voice was first mentioned gave me a giggle, I was to assume it was horrible without even needing to hear anyone else’s reaction, that’s enjoyable writing. I’d like to hear it too, but I’m glad Bert was swayed, I adore the voice used for Charlie so much.